Artificial mother for raising chickens



(No Model.)

H. B. TATHAM, Jr. ARTIFIOIAL MOTHER FOR RAISING GHIGKBNS.

Patented June so, 1885.

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HENRY B. TATHAM, JR, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ARTIFICIAL MOTHER FOR RAISING CHICKENS.

QPEGIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 321,060, dated June 30, 1885.

Application filed May 5, 1884. (No model.)

T0 on whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY B. TATHAM, J r., a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented a certain Improved Artificial Mother for Raising Chickens, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to so construct an artificial mother for rearing young chickens that, while the chickens will always be kept properly warm, there will be no risk of injury to the chicks due to their crowding or being crowded into contracted spaces or against a rigid covering.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of my improved artificial mother in its simplest form; Figs. 2, 3, and 4, views illustrating the device in compound form and showing further features of the invention, and Fig. 5 a View illustrating still another feature of the invention.

In Fig. 1, A represents a frame or stand supporting avessel, B, containing water, in which is submerged a float, D, having a central stem,a,to which is connected a frame, b, carrying at its lower end a disk, F, of wood, metal, or other suitable material, preferably clothed on the under side with cotton or wool. of the disk F and its frame is just enough to keep the float D submerged, the buoyancy of the float almost counterbalancing the weight of said parts, so that the slightest upward pressure on the disk is sufficient to raise it; hence the most delicate chick can readily lift and get under the disk, the weight of which in excess of the lifting-power of the float is enough to keep it in contact with the chick without exerting any injurious pressure upon it.

I prefer to arrange the balanced disk F in a casing, G, which can be heated by a circulation of warm water around it, and to arrange a number of casings together, as shown, for instance, in Figs. 2 and 3, or in Fig. 4, the water circulating through an outer casing, H, which contains the casings G, and being derived from aheater, I, the inlet and discharge pipes of The weight which are arranged with reference to the proper circulation of the Water. Each casing may communicate with an outer incloscd space or yard, into and from which the chicks can run at pleasure.

The casings G are preferably circular, as it is the aim of my invention to avoid all corners or contracted spaces into which the chicks can crowd or be crowded.

In some cases it may be desirable to heat the disk F, and I provide for this in the plan shown in Fig. 5, in which the disk is hollow and has pipes communicating with a watervessel heated by a lamp, the whole structure being suspended from and partially counterbalanced by the float D, as before described.

To prevent the loss of water in the vessels B from evaporation, said vessels may be furnished with automatic supplying devices similar to that shown in my application for patent for incubator filed March 24, 1884, Serial No. 125,253.

I claim as my invention 1. The within-described artificial mother for chicks, the same comprising a water-vessel, a submerged float, a disk or cover for the chicks, and means for connecting said disk or cover to the float, as set forth.

2. The combination of a casing, G, a watervessel, a submerged float, and a disk carried and partially counterbalanced by the latter and free to move vertically in the casing, as set forth.

3. The combination of awater-vessel, a sub merged float, a disk carried and partially counterbalanced by the latter, a casing, G, an outer casing, H, and a heater,whereby warm water is caused to circulate within the casing H and around the casing G, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY B. TATHAM, JR.

Witnesses:

JOHN M. CLAYTON, HARRY SMITH. 

